Minimum Sentence for Third Conviction of Certain Offences Relating to Drug Trafficking

Part of Orders of the Day — Crime and Punishment (Scotland) Bill – in the House of Commons at 8:30 pm on 20 January 1997.

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Photo of Lord James Douglas-Hamilton Lord James Douglas-Hamilton , Edinburgh West 8:30, 20 January 1997

I beg to move Amendment No. 2, in page 5, line 15, at end insert— '(2) In section 196 of the 1995 Act (sentence following guilty plea)—

  1. (a) the existing words shall become subsection (1); and
  2. (b) at the end there shall be added the following subsection—
(2) Where the court is passing sentence on an offender under section 205B(2) of this Act and that offender has pled guilty to the offence for which he is being so sentenced, the court may, after taking into account the matters mentioned in paragraphs (a) and (b) of subsection (1) above, pass a sentence of less than seven years imprisonment or, as the case may be, detention but any such sentence shall not be of a term of imprisonment or period of detention of less than five years, two hundred and nineteen days.".'.

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